Alternate Past
by Psikyo
Summary: When Neil finds out that he ended up in a hospital, he tries to find out where he is. A mysterious man wants to see him, and Neil gets dragged into a conflict that he never thought he would see.
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1:

It was dark.

There was nothing to touch, nothing to see, and nothing to feel. I thought I was dead, and I thought I would end up in a place filled with fire, and the devil, with its crooked, ugly horns would laugh at me. It would then drag me across the molten rocks, up to this massive cliff, and force me to look at what I truly dreaded. A place with burning lava, where my body would slowly melt into pieces as the burning sensation of the lava would slowly drown me. Hell.

It seems that this was not the case. Instead of melting in hell and completely wiped out from existence, I started to see light. I suddenly felt a strange sensation, a feeling of softness. As soon as the light started to get brighter, I started to gain consciousness. I started to smell, to feel, and to hear various noises that surrounded me. Soon after, I started to open my eyes.

"Sir, patient 127 is waking up!" A voice called out. The voice had a nervous tone to it, suggesting that the man seemed to be nervous when he saw me waking up.

I woke up right after I heard a man's voice. Feeling slightly dazed, I looked straight up, expecting to know where I was. I saw tiles of ivory-colored squares lined up in straight rows. Realizing that the tiles that were lined up were part of the ceiling, I got up to see where I was currently. After I rose up, I started to look at my surroundings. Turning over to the left, I saw two rows of arranged bottles, all stacked up inside a shelf. Uninterested, I turned over to the right, and saw an array of curtains covering up something; a window. Observing all of the room's surroundings, I thought that I was in a hospital. Just before I was about to jump out of my bed,

"Don't try and hurt yourself now." A deep voice called me.

Upon hearing this, I immediately turned my head toward where the voice came from. When I looked at the door, there was a man with a white lab quote standing beside his assistant. He had a confident posture, and his thick glasses only seemed to augment the man's bulky figure along with his thick black moustache. I guessed that he was one of the higher-ups, or a doctor. The assistant that was beside the large man was scrawny. He was small, but he wore enormously large glasses that seemed to rival even the doctor's glasses itself.

"Bring me my suitcase Jeremy." The bulky man ordered.

Upon hearing the order, the assistant quickly carried a large suitcase and brought it over to the doctor. After his boss received the suitcase, the assistant hurriedly walked back behind where the doctor was standing.

"So, this is patient 127?" The doctor asked the assistant standing behind him.

"Yes sir. The patient has just woken up." The assistant answered back.

Right after the assistant answered, the doctor immediately carried his large suitcase with little effort, and walked up to me. The doctor then sat on the stool that was near my bed. Staring into my face, the doctor then started to reach inside his suitcase, and took out a needle. He then started to fill up the needle with liquid from a strange vial he took out from his other pocket. The needle was labeled "medical purposes", and when I looked at it, I got anxious.

"Here. It won't hurt that much. Just bear with the slight pain okay?" The doctor asked me with a slight smile on his face. He then injected the needle deeply into my arms.

I started to cringe in pain, but stopped as the fluid in the needle started to flow inside my body. Gradually, my body started to feel relaxed. The liquid inside the needle spread throughout my body, and I started to feel better for some reason. Even though there was still pain from the needle being inside me, I easily ignored it. Feeling better than before, I decided to ask the doctor what this liquid was.

"Doctor, what's the liquid that was inside the needle?" I asked with a slight smile on my face.

"That, was regenerative fluid." The doctor answered with a steady smile.

The doctor then removed the needle that was inside my arm, and handed the needle to the assistant behind him. The man then stood up, and introduced himself.

"My name is Dr. Porter. I am one of the doctors here in this hospital. One of the head doctors actually." The doctor said politely.

"My name is…. Dr. Dhillion. I would prefer that you call me Assistant Dhillion though. " The assistant also introduced himself, although he still had that nervous look on this face.

After the two doctors introduced themselves, Assistant Dhillion lifted his own suitcase, and was just about to leave the room. Suddenly, Dr. Porter grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Stay. I still have to talk to Patient 127. We still have much to discuss." Dr. Porter ordered. Assistant Dhillion immediately listened to Porter's orders and walked back to where the head doctor was.

Without a second thought, I interrupted the two doctors on their conversation. I hoped to know where this hospital was, and why I was doing here.

"Where is this place?" I asked the two doctors, hoping to know more about where this place was.

Immediately, the two doctors made contact with me, and stood up straight. The doctor then checked the sign that was located at the top of the room's door.

"This place here is the infirmary I believe. If you wanted to know what this building is, I'm afraid I can't tell you that right now." Dr. Porter answered with a stern look on his face.

"Why?" I questioned.

"It's orders from higher-ups. It must be obeyed." Dr. Porter answered.

"I see." I reclined.

"Also, there was someone that wanted to see you tomorrow. I don't know who this person is, but right now, get some more rest. You'll be woken up at 8:00 in the morning, sharp." Dr. Porter instructed.

Before I could ask more questions, Dr. Porter and his assistant immediately packed their suitcases, and started to leave. I forgot the question that I was going to ask, so instead of following the doctors, I simply decided that it would be best for me to just fall asleep again. Feeling bored, I slowly walked up over to where the curtains were. I then slowly unveiled the curtains, revealing a large window. Looking through the window, I noticed a city, adorned with bright lights, and with glass panes. Some of the buildings that I saw were so tall that it even dwarfed the hospital that I was in.

"Where am I?" I thought to myself while gazing at the flashing lights emanated from the buildings.

I fell asleep shortly after, while leaning on that window that I looked through.

Next morning:

"Get out of bed lazybones!" A piercing voice yelled out.

I groaned weakly, as it was rare for me to hear such a loud yell early in the morning. Nevertheless, I slowly woke up. Wanting to see who called me out, I quickly opened my eyes, and looked towards the front door. I thought that it was the assistant that yelled at me, due to how high-pitched the yell was. Who I saw, was someone completely opposite of that.

"Dr. Porter?!" I questioned out in surprise. I never knew such a gruff man would have such a shrill. My ears were still numb due to his yell.

"So, you've woken up finally. The person asked me to lead you to the waiting room." Dr. Porter said with a much calmer voice this time.

"Where's the waiting room?" I asked.

"As I said, I'll lead you there. Just follow me." Dr. Porter answered back.

As soon as Dr. Porter answered my question, he walked quickly to where I was and dragged me off of my bed. He then left the infirmary immediately. Left with no choice, I followed Dr. Porter, hoping that he would take me to the right place.

When I exited out of my room, I noticed a hallway. There, Mr. Porter was just about to turn right from a distance, so I ran quickly, hoping to catch up with Mr. Porter before I lose sight of him.

"Mr. Porter! Wait up for me!" I yelled out.

"So, you've finally caught up. Good for you." Dr. Porter said as he slowed down his pace. He then regained his pace as soon as I caught up to him.

After meeting up with Dr. Porter, I immediately arrived at another hallway. But unlike the place here, this hallway was crowded. There were doctors, nurses, and other patients in this hallway. People were asking various questions to the reception desk, and doctors were ordering nurses and other staff members around like they were tools to be used. Patients were being dragged to either the emergency room or infirmary. Even though I was a patient here in this hospital, I couldn't help but feel sorry for the patients, especially the ones that were in a worse situation than I was.

After looking at the people in this hallway, I then observed the hallway itself. Looking to the left, I saw large glass panes that were put into rows. These glasses were about as big as the ones in my room, but the sheer amount of these windows, along with the bright morning light made the city look more vibrant compared to last night. A minute later, three red mobile suits flew out of a building. Two of the mobile suits carried a red lance, and was trailing behind a bigger, bulkier mobile suit. Unlike the two mobile suits behind it, this one did not have a lance. Instead, it was bigger, and seemed to give off an intimidating sight, unlike the mobile suits that were trailing behind him.

"Those are called GN-XIIIes." Mr. Porter told me.

Listening to what Mr. Porter said, I asked what the other mobile suit was called.

"That's called the Ahead. It's an improved model of the GN-XIII." Mr. Porter answered.

"Guess it's called an Ahead for a reason." I replied.

"Why is that?" Dr. Porter asked.

"See, it seems to go "ahead" of the other mobile suits." I gestured.

When Dr. Porter heard my guesture, he let out a smile.

"It's my first time seeing a good natured patient here in this hospital. Most of the patients here are always depressed, or they're just too injured to express any sort of feelings they harbor." Dr. Porter told me.

When I heard Dr. Porter's comment, I felt lucky that I was still alive here in this hospital. Just as I was about to proceed further, Dr. Porter called out. When I stopped to see what was going on, I noticed a grey door. It was easily noticeable due to the fact that all of the other doors had numbers plastered on them except for this one.

"We're here." Dr. Porter said. He then slowly turned the doorknob, resulting in the door slowly being opened.

"So, what do I do here?" I asked the doctor.

"Go in, and find out." Dr. Porter answered.

As soon as Dr. Porter answered my question, I headed into the room that was in front of me. Expecting something exciting, I walked further and further into the room, hoping to see the person that wanted to meet me. Observing my surroundings, there were many different colored tiles that were layered over the walls. Looking up, there was a strange lamp that was clinging to the ceiling. Although I wanted to turn on the lamp, I knew that it didn't have much use at this time. After observing the lamp, I then noticed a door that was beside me. Instead of the usual grey-color, this door was actually yellow, completely different from the doors that I was used to seeing. Without a second thought, I decided that I should at least check what was in the door. I walked up to the door, slowly grabbed the doorknob, and turned it. After the doorknob was turned, I slowly opened the door and crept inside.

"Who's there?" I asked.

No response.

"Is anyone here?" I asked again.

There was no response either.

Frustrated by the lack of response, I headed further inside the room. Even though there was no one in that room, I still thought that there would at least be something that I could find useful. First I decided to check the bed. Slowly placing my hand under the blankets, I hoped that I would at least find something remotely useful. Reaching deeper into the blanket, I thought that there wasn't anything in the bed at all, but that changed when I felt something, something flat and square; an envelope.

Without a second thought, I hurriedly took the envelope out of the bed, and opened it. I then unfolded the paper inside the envelope to see what it said. It contained a note.

It read,

"**Hello.**

**I see that you have found my letter.**

**My name is (scribbled out).**

**There is something important that I must tell you.**

**Today, there is going to be an attack.**

**An attack that will threaten your life**

**And all the other people that are around you.**

**If you do not wish to go back where you were,**

**Press the button on the left of you."**

**Earl Hargraves.**

"Earl Hargraves. So that's what my name is." I told myself.

Not knowing what all of this meant, I looked towards the left, just like what the letter asked. I suddenly noticed a button that was located on a wall. It was hard to distinguish, but it was just noticeable enough for me to see it.

"So, I have to press this button eh?" I asked myself.

I tapped the button soon after, but nothing happened. Wondering why the instructions on the letter failed to establish, I kept pressing the button.

Nothing happened.

Getting annoyed, I then pressed the button repeatedly over and over again. Nothing happened. Just as when I was about to give up and leave the room, an invisible door opened below. Not knowing that it opened below me, I could not react fast enough to move away from the hidden door. Suddenly, I fell.

"Warrrgh!!!!!" I screamed out loud, as I started to fall through the hole.

Maybe this was the end of me. Falling through this hole meant that I would end up in a furnace, or a garbage dump. Even worse, I might end up falling into a mobile suit factory, where all of the workers there would notice me the instant I popped outside through the end of this, pipe.

"BOOOOM!" A trembling sound occurred.

"What the hell was that?" I thought.

Not wanting to waste time, I tried to make myself go faster. Upon hearing the sound that just occurred, I got nervous. Even though going too fast down the pipe meant that I would surely die, I had no choice due to the fact that people might die.

"Death, does it scare you?" A voice ringed inside my head.

"Shit." I cursed, as I quickly sled down through the pipe. When I was just about to speed up even further, I immediately noticed the exit of the pipe. For some reason, people might consider that a good thing. Unfortunately for me, even though I was just at the exit of the pipe, I couldn't slow down quickly enough to stop myself.

"Holy Crap!!" I yelled out as I flew out of the pipe.

Immediately after I launched out of the pipe, I kept flying. Still unable to stop myself, I then tried to form a barrel roll, hoping to save myself from a broken limb in the process. I then landed on a hard floor, and kept rolling over and over. Suddenly, I noticed a hard wall in front of me. Getting nervous, I tried to roll backwards in order to stop myself, but couldn't due to the fact that I was moving too quickly. Suddenly, I crashed on a hard wall.

"Ouch!" I shouted out in pain.

Feeling worried that I might have broken something, I tried to get myself up. I positioned my right knee in front of me, and used my right leg for support. Fortunately, I seemed to be feeling fine after than bump. I had a minor backache, but I was certain that I didn't break any bones for sure.

After getting up, I looked around to see where I was. Unlike the last room I was in, this place was completely different. There were two walls with a couple of wooden benches. On the walls, numerous lockers were placed together evenly. At the end of the room, there was another door. Keeping pace as quickly as possible, I ran over to the door on the other side of this room. Unlike those hospital doors, this one seemed to open automatically. Just before I headed out to the other room, I noticed an open locker that was right beside me.

"What's this?" I asked myself.

I headed to where the open locker was, and checked. Ironically, instead of being empty, there was a green suit with three yellow symbols stacked on top of each other on an arc on the right chest area. I wondered if I should wear this suit over my current clothing, even though it might be someone else's. Maybe it would be either too small or too big for my body.

"So, what should I do?" I wondered.

I soon knew that wearing this would be better at this time, especially due to the fact that I was still wearing my dreaded hospital clothing for patients. Realizing this, I immediately took off my current clothes and wore the green suit that was in front of me. After that, I reached further inside the locker, and grabbed a pair of black boots. I then quickly put on my boots that I just found.

"Well, I guess I could keep this on." I said with a satisfied smile on my face.

Realizing that the uniform fit me perfectly along with the boots, I then ran out through the door. I hoped that no one was harmed during the explosion that occurred when I was inside the pipe. Without a moment of hesitation, I hurriedly ran through another hallway, and arrived to an enormous area. Unlike the locker room, this place was grey, and hangars were abundant. There was an another locker room located just above where I was, but the one above me had windows lined up, unlike the locker room that I was in just before. I was just about to navigate through this place, until I saw someone from a distance. I was just about to walk closer to see who this person was, until the man greeted me.

"Hello there." The man greeted from a distance.

When the man greeted me, I immediately figured out who this person was through his deep loud voice.

"Dr. Porter! What are you doing here?" I asked back.

Dr. Porter then walked closer towards where I was standing. Even though he could have just called me from a distance, I just decided not to stop him. When he stopped, he observed me with an expression, and asked.

"What is the green suit that you're wearing boy?" Dr. Porter asked me.

"I just found this in some locker. I thought that it would be better for me to change into this than keep wearing hospital clothes." I answered.

Dr. Porter's expression changed right after I answered his question. His usual smile then changed to a slight frown.

"You realize you're still a patient here right? I'll get you some new clothes." Dr. Porter told me with an expressionless face. He then walked away from me.

Somewhat annoyed by Dr. Porter, I decided to ask him a question. When I turned over to the right, I noticed a strange-looking mobile suit docked on one of the hangars. Curious, I decided to ask what mobile suit that is.

"Dr. Porter, what is that mobile suit?" I asked.

Dr. Porter then stood still. Keeping his expressionless face, he assured me that it was none of my business. Even though I wanted to ask what the mobile suit was called, I didn't. I had no intention of piloting a mobile suit at the time anyways.

After I had talked with Dr. Porter, I decided that it was simply wise for me to go back to my infirmary, just so that Dr. Porter wouldn't get angry. Even though the mobile suit located at the hanger greatly interested me, it wasn't my business to interfere with things that weren't mine originally mine to begin with. When I was just about to go back to the hospital,

The worst thing happened right in front of my eyes………………………..


	2. Chapter 2

ALTERNATE PAST CHAPTER 2

Previously from chapter 1:

An enormous white flame ignited right in front of my eyes. In less than a second, I watched as the solid, metallic wall dissolved in front of me. Burning, destructive flames lunged at me right after the wall collapsed, and grabbed Mr. Porter in an instant. The flame then subsided, along with scraps of dissolved metals. The force of the phenomenon was so powerful that it shot me backwards. It was like all of the energy that was in my body suddenly left me without a reason. Due to the force of the explosion, I ended up colliding onto another steel wall as a result.

Almost losing consciousness due to the collision, I knew that something bad had happened right at that moment. With all my strength, I pushed myself up, and rubbed my eyes. When I gained my consciousness back, I tried to comprehend what happened in front of me.

"What….happened?" I wondered.

Then it caught me. There was a giant hole in place of where the explosion had occurred. An expression of shock grafted my face, along with fear, not because of the hole, but more along the lines of the remains beneath the hole. Scraps of remaining metal around the newly formed hole uselessly fell on the floor, creating a small hill in the process. The face of satisfaction that I had a minute ago had completely disappeared, as it was replaced with a combination of sadness and fear.

"DR. PORTER!!!!" I screamed out, knowing that the doctor was trapped in the rubble.

Without a second to waste, I sprinted my way over to where Dr. Porter was, trapped inside the remains of the destroyed steel wall. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew in my direction, and pieces of metal started to fly towards me. Immediately, I ran over to the side, dodging the flying scraps of metal. After I ran over to a different wall to hide, I tried to peek through the hole in case there would be any more threats. After a couple of seconds, two slender blue mobile suits slowly flew near the hole. These mobile suits were not like the ones I saw that morning. They were much skinnier in girth, and instead of lances, they held a rifle instead.

"Son of a bitch, go to hell A-laws!" One of the pilots screamed out.

After the pilot screamed out, the Enact took out his rifle and shot another laser beam at the pile of rubble. This caused another explosion, causing all the pieces of metal to fly out in random directions. I crouched behind the side of the other wall, hoping to not get hit by flying debris. When the explosion settled down, the Enacts quickly left the area.

Without hesitation, I sprinted over to the rubble as fast as I could, praying that Dr. Porter was still alive. Images flowed through my mind like wildfire, as I start to remind myself of the past. This was just like when my parents were killed. Realizing that this attack was just like the terrorist attack back when I was younger, I could not forgive myself for witnessing something like this. Anger started to flow through my veins, and I clenched my fists tightly; blood dripped from my fists to the floor. After witnessing this, I could not forgive the people who attacked Mr. Porter.

When I finally arrived to where Dr. Porter was, I immediately halted. Pain stabbed me like a thousand knives to my chest. I could not describe the situation in mere words. The mere sight of Dr. Porter caused me to collapse onto my knees, trembling at the sight of the mutilated limbs and gore that was Dr. Porter. I slowly reached my hand out to his remains, trembling with sadness and regret. It was then Dr. Porter opened his eyes.

"It's you…" Dr. Porter slowly whispered. Blood dripped down from his mouth.

I was completely astonished that Dr. Porter was still alive, even after the explosion had occurred. Even though half of his body had been vaporized, it's a miracle that he was still alive, even for a second.

"Come here." Dr. Porter groaned weakly."

"Dr. Porter…. Why?" I asked. Tears started to drop down my face.

It was then Dr. Porter took out something in his pocket; a necklace. He then slowly opened it, revealing a small but a visible picture. In the picture, there was Dr. Porter; I recognized due to the same moustache that he had in the picture. There was one more person in that picture, but I couldn't make out who it was, except,

"Dad?" I stuttered.

"Yes, it's your dad boy." Mr. Porter added.

"Why is he in there?" I asked gently.

Mr. Porter then let out a slight smile, and closed his eyes. Just as when he was about to answer my question, he let out a pained groan. He then reached for my hand, and just as he was about to place the necklace on my hand, his body suddenly dropped. Dr. Porter, a man I was just starting to respect, had died right in front of my eyes.

"DR. PORTER!!" I screamed out as tears now flowed down to my face.

Feeling deeply saddened, I grabbed the necklace that was on the floor. Clenching it, I thanked Dr. Porter. Even though my gratitude only fell on deaf ears, I had to thank him for what he did. I then turned over to the right, hoping to find something that I can use to get out of this room. It was then I realized that the mobile suit was still there on the hangar. I decided that the only way that I'll be able to get out of here alive, would be to use the mobile suit that was in front of me. Even though there is a chance that I might die trying to pilot it, I didn't have a choice. To me, this was the only way to get out of this place alive.

And for avenging Dr. Porter.

Without a moment's hesitation, I quickly ran over to where the mobile suit was, and stopped right in front of the mobile suit. Looking up, I wondered. If I piloted this mobile suit, would I have made the right choice? There is a chance that I might be instantly obliterated if I used this mobile suit.

Then my thoughts rushed back to my head.

Immediately, I realized again that if I wanted to survive, there would be no choice but to use this mobile suit. I sprinted my way over to the cockpit, and jumped in. Once I was in, I hurriedly started up the mobile suit I was in. Once the mobile suit was turned on, a small monitor popped up.

"GNX-810T Gread" The monitor read.

"Gread…" I thought.

Ignoring the message that the monitor showed me, I quickly started up the mobile suit. Even though it there was a chance that this mobile suit wasn't finished, I started the boosters. Soon, the mobile suit was fully ready for combat.

"Let's do this!" I said to myself.

I then took out a beam rifle out of my mobile suit, and shot it, causing an explosion in the wall that was in front of me. Placing my beam rifle down, I then took out a beam saber from the Gread's sheath, and sliced out the remains of the wall, completely destroying it in the process. At last, the wall that was in front of me was gone, which meant that I can head out of this damned hospital once and for all.

"Gread, launching!" I yelled out.

I then started the boosters, causing the thrusters at the back to slightly turn red. Quickly I activated the thrusters on my Gread, and with that, I finally took off. Going at incredible speed, I soared into the clear blue sky, doing somersaults and barrel rolls in the process.

Finally stabilizing my mobile suit to a stable position, I sped up to check if there were further damages around the city. Just as I was about to fly down to the building to check, I experienced a slight bump, causing me to move slightly backwards. Using my monitor, I tried to see who shot my Gread in the back. In my line of sight were three blue mobile suits. Unlike the Enacts, these mobile suits were slightly shorter, and were more bulky. With their bulkiness and their height, I instantly recognized those as Hellions. Before I could even react, the two mobile suits fired, sending an array of blue orbs in my way.

Quickly, I dodged the blue orbs, and took out my beam saber from the Gread's sheath. One of the Hellions took out a plasma saber, and engaged my Gread for a close combat duel. The other Hellions continuously fired their rifles, forcing me to evade. Without a moment's hesitation, I stabbed my beam saber deep into my opponent's cockpit, causing the blue mobile suit to explode. Using the strength of the Gread, I sliced my sword sideways, cutting the Hellion in half. This caused the rest of the Hellions to engage towards the Gread.

Quickly, I swapped my beam saber with my rifle. One of the Hellions took out a plasma blade, and attempted to swipe, but I sidestepped through the attack. I then used my thrusters to get behind the enemy Hellion and shot it, causing the Hellion to explode on contact. When the last Hellion saw this happening, it hurriedly turned around and started to boost away. Not content with leaving the Hellion intact, I aimed my rifle at the flying Hellion and fired it, destroying the last Hellion in the process.

Seeing that I destroyed the three Hellions, I was just about to put my rifle away until a warning sign appeared on my monitor.

"Warning, 7 enemy mobile suits in the middle of this area" The monitor read.

"Shit. 7 of them? That's where the other buildings are!" I swore out in frustration.

Knowing this, I quickly started to fly over to the middle of downtown. Before I did this, I took out my beam saber back from my sheath. Taking advantage of the speed provided by Gread, I swiftly soared over to the middle of downtown.

"I have to hurry. This city will get massacred if I don't do something." I thought to myself.

With that said, I adjusted the Gread's boosters to full speed. Immediately, I soared over to where the middle of city was. Quickly, I readied my beam saber, and as I took sight of another blue mobile suit, cut it in half. I then continued on.

After arriving to my destination, I took out my beam rifle, searching for any enemy mobile suits that might attack me and my Gread. Slowly navigating through the buildings, I soon noticed more blue-coloured mobile suits firing at something; buildings. Immediately knowing that these were enemy mobile suits, I fired at them. Unlike the last mobile suits I encountered, these ones managed to deflect my rifle beam. These mobile suits were skinny like the Enacts, but they were bigger and were equipped with various types of weapons. I knew that by their shape and structure, these were Flags. The problem was, there were 7 them. Getting worried, I was just about to plan a surprise attack, until the Flags noticed where I was, forcing me to aim my rifle. The Flags reacted by readying their weapons as well.

"All Flags, form up and attack the enemy mobile suit." One of the pilots in the flag ordered.

Instantly, the seven Flags formed together. Aiming their rifles at my mobile suit, they fired without hesitation. A swarm of blue bullets quickly approached the Gread, forcing me to fall back to a nearby building in the process. Quickly, I pulled out the scope of my rifle, and aimed it at one of the Flags. I fired at the Flag group, causing the Flag group to split into two. I then took out my beam saber, and flew over to one of the separated Flag groups.

"You bastards! How dare you bastards do this to the city?" I screamed out.

I charged over to a Flag and sliced it in half, and shot another Flag with my rifle. Both of the Flags were destroyed immediately. Seeing this, the rest of the Flags recklessly charged. Taking out their plasma blades, the Flags quickly engaged my unit. With my beam saber in hand, I clashed against the Flags. I then shot my rifle at one of the Flags, causing it to explode. Quickly, I then charged towards the other Flags with my beam saber, killing off all of the Flags in the process.

"So, is that all?" I asked myself.

Just as I was about to drop my guard, a black-colored Flag descended out of nowhere. I noticed that this machine was different from the ones that I faced from before. I unsheathed my beam saber, just in case.

________________________________________________________________

"I'm impressed." The pilot of the black-colored Flag said.

He then took out his plasma blade, and readied for combat.

"Are you the leader of this whole group?" I questioned the other pilot.

"Yea! But you don't need to know, because you'll die here right now!" The pilot of the Flag answered arrogantly.

The leader of the group then charged at me with his plasma blade in hand. He then raised his blade, and went for a slice. Evading the Flag's slash, I swiped my beam saber at the Flag, hoping to take out the black machine. Surprisingly, the opponent also blocked my attack, causing both of us to move backwards. I quickly fired my rifle at my opponent's Flag, but it swiftly dodged the incoming round as well. The Flag then took out is blade-rifle and shot my Gread, causing me to tumble backwards. Fortunately, the rifle did not seem to damage my mobile suit.

"Heh! It's the first time anyone's ever survived a rifle from my Overflag." The leader sneered.

"Overflag? Well you're going to have to do better than that to beat me." I mocked back.

My opponent then charged at me again with his plasma blade. Instead of using my beam saber this time, I held my rifle tightly clutched. Just before my opponent struck me with his beam saber, I sidestepped through his attack. Moving quickly sideways, I fired my beam rifle at the Overflag's shoulders, taking out its right arm.

"Tch. How dare you damage my Flag? A common soldier?" The leader screamed out.

With the Flag missing its right arm, I fired at my rifle again at the opponent's Flag to cause further damage. The Flag raised its shield to deflect my beam rifle, and charged at me again. This time though, it used its blade rifle to attack. I took out my beam saber again, and deflected the incoming attack from the Overflag. Quickly, I aimed my rifle at the Overflag's face, and fired it. The overflag dodged my rifle, and sliced my Gread. It then hastily backed away, dodging the attack from my beam saber.

"Shit, that unit's really fast." I scowled.

Quickly, I put my rifle away, and charged at the leader's Overflag. I quickly swiped at the Overflag, hoping for a decent hit. Instead of deflecting my attack, it sidestepped away from my slash and flew behind me.

"Take this ya bastard!" The leader yelled out as he readied his blade rifle.

As soon as the leader was about to stab me using his blade rifle, I quickly ducked sideways, evading the Overflag's attack. I then sliced my beam saber against the Overflag. Taking the hit, the Overflag also fired its blade rifle, causing both of us to soar in reverse directions from each other.

We both stood still, waiting to see who would drop their guard first. Just as we were about to charge again, the Overflag's left arm exploded. It then fell backwards, squishing a few cars and critically damaging a building in the process. The Overflag then sputtered, and a small explosion occurred inside the Flag. Fortunately for me, my Gread once again avoided taking damage.

"Shit! How the hell can I lose?" The leader screamed out in frustration.

The Overflag then stood back up, and quickly used its thrusters to escape. I watched as the black mobile suit distanced itself further and further away from the city. Feeling relieved, I sheathed my beam saber away, and put down my beam rifle. Even though I could have killed the pilot of the Overflag in an instant, I didn't bother.

"Thank god." I sighed out in relief.

I then checked the surroundings of the city. I noticed a few dead people along with destroyed buildings, but it seemed that most of the city was still intact. Suddenly, people came out of nowhere to where my mobile suit was, cheering loudly. I guessed that they must have been happy that I drove away the Kataron forces.

"YES! YES! WE'RE SAVED!" A group of people screamed out in joy. A few people even ended up crying.

With a smile on my face, I lowered my Gread, and opened the cockpit. When I got out of the cockpit, the cheers of the people that surrounded me made me feel happy. Even though I couldn't save Dr. Porter, I felt glad that I saved the people here in this city, who could have easily died without my intervention.

"Everyone! Thank you!" I cheerfully yelled out at the crowd.

I then climbed down of my Gread, hoping for a bit more appreciation from the crowd. After I safely landed on the floor, people crowded themselves towards me. I didn't know how to manage a giant crowd at that time, but I was just glad that all of these people were still alive. Before I could bathe in my glory anymore though, a boy with a red hat looked up, and yelled out.

"Mom! Look!" The little boy yelled out.

"What is it dear?" The mother asked.

Suddenly, there was a bunch of red dots coming down from the horizon. It was too far away for me to see what they were, so I couldn't tell at the time. It was then someone with a pair of binoculars noticed something. With a tone of anxiety, he then screamed out.

"A-LAWS FORCES!!!" The man screamed out feverously.

Suddenly, the cheering from the crowd turned into mumbles. Hearing the varied mumbles, I knew that this wasn't an exactly favorable sight to these people. Worried, I tried to get back into my mobile suit.

"No! Don't attack those guys. They're part of the Earth Federation Army!" One of the people called out.

After hearing that, I reconsidered my decision about going into my mobile suit, and stood my ground. I locked the password for my Gread beforehand, in case something like this happened.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey! I need to borrow those binoculars for a second." I asked a middle-aged man.

"Here, use it. I'm dying to know what those red dots are." The man complied as he handed me his binoculars.

After obtaining the binoculars, I turned the binoculars on to see what all the fuss was about. Looking in the binoculars, I identified 4 red mobile suits. Judging by their appearance, they had bright red armor in some areas, but mostly they were white in color. All four of these mobile suits carried a red lance that seemed to match the color of their armor. When I was just about to turn off the binoculars, the 4 mobile suits pointed their lances forward, probably indicating that they were going to attack. Considering that the 4 mobile suits in sight were GN-XIIIes, I felt immensely threatened by their presences.

"EVERYONE! HIDE IMMEDIATELY! NOW!!" I screamed out as loud as I could, believing that everyone was in danger.

As expected, the majority of the crowd screamed, running away from my mobile suit, probably in order to hide. I quickly climbed onto the Gread's cockpit, and jumped in. Quickly, I started up the Gread's thrusters and weapon systems, just in case the GN-XIIIs started to attack the city.

"This isn't good. Turning on weapons system and thrusters now!" I ordered the machine as soon as I was inside Gread's cockpit.

"Yes sir. Activating weapons systems and thrusters." The machine answered.

As soon as my Gread was fully activated, the GN-XIIIs arrived. I prepared for the worst that was about to happen, as I clearly remember that the last time I faced mobile suits like these 5 years go, it was pure hell. Quickly I took out my rifle, suspicious that the GN-XIIIs might attack. Before I was about to shoot, a transmission was sent from one of the GN-XIIIs.

"We mean no harm. Please put your gun down." The transmission said.

"Don't kill the people here in this city. I mean it." I scowled back.

"We're the A-LAWS special forces! We work with the Earth Federation." One of the GN-XIII pilots answered.

"We ask that you and your machine come along with us." The same pilot requested.

I felt reluctant about the offer from the A-laws, but instead of fighting the GN-Xs and getting myself killed in the process, I decided to go along with them. I will likely be stripped of my mobile suit, but I won't die without a fight. The A-laws forces will never get their hands on my Gread. I then made my decision.

"All right. I'll go along with you." I answered as I accepted the pilot's offer.

After accepting the offer from one of the GN-XIII's pilots, I took off with the 4 GN-XIIIs. Wondering where the group was taking me, I switched my machine to autopilot mode. This gave me a sense of relief, as I suddenly felt tired shortly after the GN-XIIIs arrived. I soon fell asleep.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

A few hours had passed…..

"Wake up you bastard!" Someone angrily called out.

Suddenly, I was yanked by my collar. Almost losing my balance, I tried to pull back away from the stranger's direction. Unfortunately, it didn't really work, as the stranger dragged me off my pilot seat. Feeling sour due to the rude awakening, I quickly shook him off without hesitation.

"Who the hell are you?" I scowled.

Suddenly, the stranger stopped. Just before I tried to walk away from him, he tightly grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to halt. The stranger then punched me in the face, causing me to instantly fly backwards to the floor on contact.

"How dare you greet me that way?" The stranger asked.

"Just who are you anyways?" I questioned back, trying to restrain my anger.

I quickly stood up, ignoring the stranger's face expression. Looking at him, the man had a large, muscular figure. His golden-blonde hair was bleached backwards, and he had a slender body. His darker skin contrasted to my own. It was then I noticed that this man had the same uniform that I was wearing right now. Quickly, the stranger then walked over to me, and grabbed me by the arms.

"Stop this right now Barrack!" A stern, commanding voice called out.

Suddenly, the large blonde man stopped dead in its tracks. He then raised his hands to his forehead, and then saluted.

"Yes commander!" Barrack obliged.

"A woman?" I thought.

After managing to stop Barrack, the woman approached me. With a calm, stern look on her face, she offered me a hand.

"Here. Get up." She ordered.

I could have acted stubborn and refused her order, but in this case, I had no choice but to listen to this woman. Quickly, I stood up in front of the woman. Looking at her, she had a tall slim body, with tied up hair and round glasses. She then ordered me to follow her, and I immediately obliged.

Looking at my surroundings, the first thing that I observed was the design of the hangar. Instead of being empty, it was full of equipment. Federation mobile suits were stationed at every area, and mechanics along with the crew members started maintenance on the suits. Without much time to waste, I quickly followed the woman that was in front of me. We both then exited the maintenance room through the door that was in front of us.

After leaving the maintenance room, I asked what her name was, hoping for an answer.

"Call me Colonel Mannequin." The woman answered.

"Name's Earl Grieves." I answered back.

"So, why am I here?" I asked politely.

Kati then stroked her hair, and wiped her glasses with her uniform. She then placed her glasses back on.

"You'll see soon enough." Mannequin answered.

After a moment of walking, Mannequin suddenly stopped, and turned around to what appeared to be another door.

"We're here." Mannequin notified.

Looking at the door that was in front of me, Mannequin walked through the door. Wondering to know where she was leading me to, I hurriedly followed inside, knowing that it lead to another room. I tried to think that everything would be fine, and I would get through this meeting, and I would soon leave with my Gread. When I finally arrived to the room though, I did not once think that it would come to something like this.

I gulped, slowly.


	3. Chapter 3

Alternate Past Chapter 3: Restrained Thoughts

Gotten escorted into the room that Mannequin showed me, I started to feel nervous even more. I decided to look at the surroundings that I was in. First, I saw that there were two identical shelves on each side of the room, filled with books. There was a large, wooden desk in the middle end of this room, and there, a man with dark red hair sat in the desk. Before I tried to grasp my surroundings, Mannequin called out to me.

"Well, this is Commander Katagiri." Mannequin introduced.

Without hesitation, I marched over to the middle of the room. The man with long brown hair, with his menacing eyes started at me. He then placed his elbows on his desk and took out a piece of paper. The man then grabbed a pen that was located on a box that was on top of his desk. Noticing my presence, he then placed his pen and paper down, and glared at me.

"So, you're the pilot of that mobile suit?" Katagiri questioned.

"Yes sir. I was the pilot of that mobile suit." I firmly answered.

Hoping that I would not end up getting punished for this, I prayed. Katagiri, seemingly unsatisfied with my answer asked me another question.

"Do you realize what you just did? Your incompetence let all of the Katharon forces know our secret!" Katagiri then suddenly screamed out.

Fiercely smashing his fist on the desk, Katagiri stood up, and walked over to where I stood. He gave me a strong glare, making me anxious about what he was about to do in the process. Katagiri then pointed his finger directly to my face.

"You and your damn mobile suit! Why the hell couldn't you wait for our forces to come down instead?" Katagiri kept screaming as he said this.

"Your forces were too slow. By the time your forces arrived, the people inside that city would've been all exterminated." I countered.

"It still doesn't eliminate the fact that Katharon now knows about our secret mobile suit." Katagiri groaned out in frustration.

Frustrated, Katagiri then clenched his fists. Letting out a sigh, he marched over to his table, and sat down. Getting a bit uncomfortable myself, I decided to interrupt Katagiri.

"So, what's with my mobile suit that makes it secret?" I asked.

Hearing my question, Katagiri then stopped what he was doing. Grabbing his pen and paper from his desk, He walked up to me with his imposing figure and glared into my eyes. I forced myself backwards, feeling intimidated by the red-haired man's expression.

"Your password, what is it?" Katagiri requested.

Suddenly, my face expression changed from nervousness to worry. It seemed obvious that he was trying to hack into my mobile suit, although I wasn't really sure at the time. Clenching both my fists, I stood my ground. If this was some guy in a street asking me the exact same question, I would ignore him. But this was A-laws. With their imposing, striped green uniforms, they looked like were probably created to intimidate bypassing citizens rather than to protect. I didn't have a choice; I had to meet their demands unfortunately.

"GRIEVES" I answered.

"That's your password?" Katagiri asked again."

"Yes sir." I answered back firmly.

Katagiri, having heard my answer then walked back to his desk. He quickly took out his pen and started to write down the password on his piece of paper.

"Hey hey, you're not going to do anything with my mobile suit are you?" I asked, feeling concerned that the A-laws forces might destroy it.

"We'll see about that. Meanwhile, I'll assign you as a warrant officer here, due to the fact that you managed to save an A-laws headquarters from destruction." Katagiri ordered. He then shoved the piece of paper in his pocket.

"Commander, how can you just give away a position like that?" Mannequin protested.

Katagiri, hearing Mannequin's protest let out a tiny smirk. This caused Mannequin to slightly let down her guard.

"Louise Halevy is a worthless excuse, unlike this man here." Katagiri retorted with a smirk.

Katagiri then tapped me on my shoulder. Still having his smirk on his face, he handed me out a blue ID card.

"Here, use that to access your cabin. It should have the room number and access key included with it." Katagiri told me.

I generously accepted the card that Katagiri offered. Kati, obviously starting to get upset, protested again with a frown on her face.

"SIR! How do we know that this man is trustworthy to our forces in the current situation?!" She screamed out.

"Why? You don't want me accepting this position?" I sarcastically interrupted.

"Of course not! I can't just replace Louise with a novice like you!" Mannequin scowled.

"What? You can't be serious?" I argued back, feeling frustrated.

Katigiri, who was starting to feel under pressure, once again smashed his hand against his desk. Feeling that this argument was pointless, he quickly stood up from his desk. Katagiri then marched over to where Mannequin and I were standing, with an irritated look on his face.

"Stop this bullshit now!" The man yelled out.

Hearing that, Mannequin and I immediately stopped arguing. We both turned around to where Commander Katagiri was, and immediately saluted. Katagiri, noticing that we stopped arguing, went back to his desk, keeping his look of frustration on his face.

"Your room is C204. Go there, and stay there until I say so." Katagiri ordered.

Obeying the commander's orders, I quickly walked out of Katagiri's room. Realizing that I've been given permission by Commander Katagiri, I slowed my pace; there was no reason to rush. Walking through the hallway outside of Katagiri's room, I began reminisce about what happened this morning. Everything happened so quickly, from the grisly death of Dr. Porter, to finding the Gread. An adrenaline of mixed feelings arose from my mind as I thought about what happened today.

First I was just a patient in a hospital, and now I was a soldier in A-laws. To me, it all happened so fast that, I could not comprehend what had happened today. Stroking my long brown hair, I continued to walk down through the hallway. Turning over to the right, I looked at the sign beside a metal door, which had a intercom and a few set of buttons underneath it.

"Let's see, Room C207." I said.

Realizing that this was not the right room, I walked away from the door, feeling unsatisfied. I kept walking further, trying to find my designated room. I looked at my ID card that Commander Katagiri gave me, looking for some clues. Not knowing where I was going, I accidentally encountered someone else on my way. Unfortunately, I couldn't react to the person in front of me in time, and we both ended up colliding. We both fell backwards, not knowing what just happened. When I got up, I looked to see who it was that I bumped into; a girl. Her golden-blonde hair made contact with the floor immediately when she fell.

"Watch where you're going!" The blonde-haired girl yelled out.

Looking at her, she had a slim figure. Although she leaning towards the short side, the girl's lean, slender figure almost made up for her height.

"Sorry. I didn't realize you were in front of me." I uttered out apologetically.

Staring at me with her aqua-blue eyes, she stood up. She then reached inside her pocket, and took out an ID card. Looking at her ID, I noticed that it had the same color as mine. Taking out my own ID, I compared it to the blonde girl's. Seeing that it was the exact same except for room numbers, I had to ask what these IDs were for.

"Hey, what are these IDs for?" I quickly asked out.

The blond girl then pointed her finger at the bottom of her ID card. She had a somewhat monotone look on her face when she called me again.

"Look at the bottom of your ID card." The blond-haired girl answered.

I quickly held my ID in front, and looked at the bottom of it. Seeing that it had my room number on it, I was just about to blurt out a useless comment, until I noticed something else beside it; a code of some sort.

"What's this code here at the bottom?" I asked again, hoping for an answer.

"That's your mobile suit code." The girl answered immediately.

Louise then took out a piece of paper from her pocket, and unfolded it. Laying out the paper flat on the floor, she pointed out a certain section on the paper.

"Look here." The girl ordered.

"Uh, sure." I complied.

I looked at where the blond haired girl pointed her index finger at. I started to read that specific section to see what it was about. A moment later, a small frown arose from my face as I continued to read the section. I could tell that it wasn't very good new. Still, I kept reading along, eventually finishing the section that the girl pointed out to me.

"Why do I have to pilot a GN-X?" I whined with disappointment.

"Well, see here. It depends on your ranking in this group. Higher ranked soldiers pilot better mobile suits, while the ones in the lower ranks pilot the…..worse suits. There are exceptions though." The blond girl explained with a hint of disappointment.

Acknowledging the blond girl's words, I grabbed my card and placed it back inside my pocket. I was just about to walk further into the hallway, until the girl stopped me.

"Hey, what's your name?" The blond girl requested.

"Earl Grieves. What's yours?" I answered, and then asked back.

The blond girl then refolded her sheet, and placed it in her pocket. She then stroked her short, golden hair with her right hand.

"Name's Louise Halevy. Just call me Louise though." The blond girl replied. She then started to walk away in opposite direction from where I stood.

"So Louise, where's Room C204?" I hurriedly asked.

Suddenly, Louise immediately halted. She then turned around, raised her arms, and pointed at another metal door that was immediately beside me.

"Right there." She responded.

Louise continued to walk away after she responded to my last question. I stood there, watching Louise walk further and further away. After she completely disappeared from my sight, I turned over to my right. Looking at the door that was right in front of me, I looked at the number located on the intercom.

"Let's see, Room C204. This is it." I said to myself.

Seeing that the door that was in front of me lead to my room, I pressed one of the buttons on the intercom. Suddenly, the intercom started to buffer, and a card slot popped up. It then asked me to swap my card for access. Taking out my card inside my pocket, I quickly swiped it on the card slot.

"Access granted. Opening Door C204." The intercom buzzed out, accepting my card.

The door immediately opened, and I headed inside.

"So this is it huh?" I asked myself.

Looking at my room, I tried to grasp the surroundings in the area. No matter how I looked at it, my cabin seemed to be empty. At my right, there was a small bunk bed, with another intercom at the side. At the left side, there was another pathway, but there wasn't a door in place there; probably a bathroom. Looking straight ahead, there was a large pair of windows with adjustable curtains. I flickered on the extra light switches right beside me, since the room was quite dimly lit. An array of light quickly shined upon me.

Feeling bored, I slowly jumped onto my chair. Dragging myself over to my desk, I located a small laptop that was connected to a power source. I opened the laptop, and activated it. The laptop, having been started, sent out a message to the monitor.

"Windows Delta. A-laws version" The monitor read.

"Well well, what do we have here?" I asked myself sarcastically.

The monitor quickly showed its main screen. Wondering about what to with my laptop, I used the mouse beside the laptop to navigate. Clicking on the "Mobile suit list" function, I tried to check what types of mobile suits were in this base. When the monitor responded to my request, it showed a list of specific mobile suits. I thought that each mobile suit was tailored to a specific rank when I first saw the list at the time; the list wasn't fully correct though.

After navigating through my laptop, I shut it down. I then decided to take a quick break at the bathroom at the left end of my room. I walked into the bathroom a minute later, trying to dampen my boredom. Later, I finished using the bathroom and was just about to wash my hands until,

"Warning! All A-laws forces to their mobile suits." The intercom suddenly blurted out.

Quickly, I washed my hands, and immediately rushed out of my room. I ran out to the hallway, hoping to find the mobile suit corridor before something worse happens. I didn't notice anything when I tried to find the corridor, so I kept moving on. I ran straight ahead, passing Commander Katagiri's room. Looking at my front, I could see the mobile suit hangar just ahead. It was the same place as when the A-laws group first dragged me here.

I finally arrived to the hangar, expecting everyone to just crowd up at the hangar. When I observed the hangar, there were greenish-steel plates that surrounded all sides; workers and other robots frantically moved around trying to get their jobs done. I ran over the hangar, and spotted a spare GN-XIII that was located on the left side of the hangar. Quickly, I ran over to the red mobile suit, and jumped inside the cockpit. Suddenly, one of the workers at the hangar approached me just as I was about to start the mobile suit.

"Hey you! Be careful with that!" One of the workers called out.

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about me okay?" I assured.

Starting my GN-Xs, I looked over to the side. My Gread was located just at the end corner of the hangar. A few workers and their robots approached the Gread, observing and repairing the greenish mobile suit. My mobile suit then turned to the right, directly facing a steel gate. There were a few other GN-XIIIs that were in front of me, and a GN lance immediately popped out in front of where the GN-XIIs were. Grabbing the GN lance, the gate at the very front quickly flung open, making way for takeoff.

"5, 4, 3….." A large intercom on the hangar's roof counted as the GN-XIII squad prepared for takeoff.

"All right, let's see what this baby can do." I said to myself.

"2, 1, 0, Blast off!" The intercom then shouted out, right after it counted to zero.

The GN-XIII squad then soared off through the hangar gate. Each of the GN-XIIIs flew off with one mobile suit leaving right after the front one has left the gate. Eventually, it was my turn to take off. Activating my thrusters in my GN-XIII, I soared into the dark, night sky as I took off from the hangar; all sense of thought rushed out of my mind at that brief moment.

Finally, my current mobile suit stabilized, and I regained my sense of thought. Controlling my GN-XIII, I flew straight towards the other GN-XIIIs, with others catching up to me in the process. All of the GN-XIII forces soon gathered up, eventually forming rows of four. At the very back of the rows, four Aheads were dispatched in place to keep the formation in check. One of the Aheads approached forward, directly catching up to my GN-XIII in the process.

"You're new here aren't you?" The pilot of the Ahead asked.

"Well yea, I got recruited here today." I replied.

Listening to my answer, the pilot then asked me another question.

"I heard that you got a head start because of what you did today?" The pilot asked again.

"About what?" I questioned back, feeling confused.

"You know, the meeting with Commander Katagiri." The pilot verified.

Thinking that the Ahead's pilot might be suspicious of me, I tried to answer in a modest tone. I didn't want to offend a superior; it would be against my nature to do such a thing.

"Yea, I guess. I've been assigned as a warrant officer by Commander Katagiri." I answered back.

Although I felt suspicious about telling the Ahead's pilot about the "head start" thing, I didn't feel too bad about it. I was one of the lowest ranked soldiers in A-laws, seeing that I was just recruited here.

"Name's Barrack Zinin. Call me Captain Zinin." The pilot introduced himself.

"Weren't you the guy that punched me?" I questioned, feeling annoyed.

"Sorry about that. I thought that you were a criminal at first." Barrack apologized.

Normally, I would be feeling pretty sour, but for some reason, I decided to let it go this time. He is my superior at the time anyways.

"I'm Earl Grieves. Warrant Officer Grives to be exactly." I introduced back, showing a tint of gratitude.

With the pilot seemingly satisfied from my introduction, he slowed his Ahead down, and moved back to the very end of my row. We then continued forward into the seemingly endless horizon. Soon, the four groups separated for some reason, as each group headed in different directions from each other.

"What are you doing? Come along with us." The pilot in the Ahead called out.

Listening to the pilot's orders, I followed my group. Unfortunately, my group was quite a bit ahead of I was, and it took me a while for me to catch up with them. After I rejoined with my forces, I tried to ask one of the GN-XIII pilots in my group.

"So, what's going on?" I urgently asked.

No one answered. Instead, my group simply kept going to their direction. Knowing that it was useless, I quickly moved on along. Suddenly, a blue beam approached, and hit one of the GN-XIIIs in my group, knocking it backwards.

"Katharon forces!!" Barrack yelled out.

A sudden alert ran through my head, as I quickly took out my GN lance. When I looked down, a dozen Flags started to fire at my group. One of the flags then took out its blade rifle, and shot it. Our GN-XIIIs swiftly evaded the attacks in response. Taking out its lance, the GN-XIIIs started to fire back at the Flags. Barrack hurriedly flew behind the GN-X group, trying to give support.

"Keep up the pressure!" Barrack commanded.

The GN-XIIIs started to fire more rapidly as a response. With my GN lance in hand, I quickly approached one of the Flags and skewered it, taking it out. In response to my attack, the Flags then aimed their rifles at my mobile suit. The Flags then fired at my mobile suit, causing me to fall backwards as pieces of my mobile suit fell off from the attack.

"Hey! Keep yourself in control!" Barrack shouted out as he fired on one of the Flags.

"Yes sir." I answered back.

Getting my GN lance, I quickly fired it at the opposing Flags. The remaining GN-XIIIs continued to fire their rifles, eventually destroying all the Flags in the process.

"Regroup!" Barrack shouted out again.

All of the GN-XIIIs gathered around Barrack as a response. I headed to where Barrack was, curious to what the next order would be. When all of our mobile suits gathered around, Barrack's Ahead then pointed downwards to the right. Looking downwards, I spotted a large rectangular building located at the ground. Just as I was about to fly down to check, I was stopped.

"Don't go down there! I'll handle this part of the mission on my own." Barrack commanded.

He fired his rifle at the building on the ground, causing a small explosion in the process. Barrack then slowly flew down to where the building was, and stopped. The rest of our GN-X squad flew down to where Barrack was, to see what he was up to.

"Watch this." Barrack told everyone.

Barrack's Ahead then took out a long, octagonal container and opened it. Inside, there were small square boxes. Looking closer, I noticed that the boxes had two blue dots on the middle. All of the pilots that were in our group seemed to wonder what the boxes were as well.

"Listen up everybody. These are called Automatons." Barrack said as he pointed inside the container he was holding.

"What do they do?" One of the pilots in the GN-XIII asked.

"Is it cute and cuddly?" Another pilot asked curiously in a feminine voice.

I facepalmed at the question asked by the second pilot. Just as I was about to remind the second pilot how stupid her question was, Barrack interrupted.

"4th Squad! Pay attention!" Barrack yelled out, causing all the GN-XIIIs to look at Barrack's Ahead as a result.

Barrack then dumped his container into the newly formed hole in the building. Small square boxes quickly dropped from the container, and eventually landed inside the hole.

"We're done here. Let's leave the area." Barrack ordered.

Barrack's Ahead then started to fly away from where he was. Listening to Barrack's orders, our group quickly followed Barrack's Ahead, trying to catch up to our leader in the process. Eventually, we managed to catch up to Barrack's Ahead. Feeling curious, I decided to ask a question.

"What was that rectangular building?" I asked.

"It's a Katharon base." Barrack answered.

"So, what were those Automatons do?" I asked back.

Barrack then stood silent for a minute. Wondering what happened to Barrack, I sent him a transmission.

"These things just keep our area in check." He answered.

Our group continued to travel through. Looking at the sky, it was still pitch-black, with the moon shining out in the dead center of the atmosphere. Feeling bored, I decided to set my GN-X on autopilot. Feeling sneaky, I hid the monitor inside my GN-X, and opened the network system.

"Well, hope this thing has internet." I snickered.

Just as I was about to browse the internet inside my GN-X, my monitor popped out again. I was just about to see what was up with my monitor, until a transmission popped up.

"Don't browse the internet on your GN-X. You'll get reprimanded for that. This goes for all of you others in the group as well." Barrack warned.

"Yes sir." We answered back in unison.

After a while, our group then noticed our base. Knowing that our group would be arrived soon, we turned on our thruster to speed up. Suddenly, a red, bulky approached out of nowhere, and crashed onto my mobile suit, knocking both of us back in the process; an Ahead.

"What the hell was that?" I asked.

Barrack sighed with disdain.


	4. Chapter 4

**Alternate Past Chapter 4: People around me**

Seeing the red mobile suit that just bumped into me, I decided to transmit a message to the Ahead, hoping to see who it was. Opening my monitor on my GN-X, I called out to the Ahead, expecting a reply.

"Sorry about that. I guess I didn't know where I was exactly going." The pilot replied apologetically. She then stabilized her mobile suit and moved closer to our group.

"Uh, Captain Ginin? Who is this person?" I asked.

Captain Ginin, who was looking around the current surroundings, started to continue flying back to our base. Frustrated that Ginin didn't answer my question, I reluctantly followed him; the rest of our group trailed behind us, along with the Ahead that recently crashed onto me. After a few minutes of travelling, I was finally able to see our base from a distance; it would only take a few minutes before we arrived. Suddenly, Ginin sent me a transmission.

"So, you're wondering who the pilot in the Ahead was?" Ginin questioned.

"I guess so, although it doesn't really matter now." I answered back.

"I'll explain once we're back." Ginin added calmly. He then slowed down, causing the rest of our group to slow down as well.

After arriving to our headquarters, Ginin suddenly gave a hand signature through his Ahead. Seeing the hand signature that our captain suddenly made, our group immediately followed Ginin's lead, with the latter already on descent back to the hanger located in our base. Looking below, I noticed a couple of mechanics and other soldiers that were waiting to greet us. I then landed on our hangar shortly after.

"Land all your mobile suits here!" One of the mechanics that was at the hangar called out while waving a glowing red rod.

Seeing the mechanic's signal, our group landed the GN-Xs on where the mechanic was pointing to. The members of our group carefully adjusted their position to fit their mobile suits into the hangar, and when they did, the mobile suit hangar would make a clicking sound, which indicated that the GN-Xs were attached correctly onto their individual hangars. The individual GN-Xs then lifted their arms up, and long black cables would slowly creep up to the arms of the red mobile suit, and the cables locked and held them in place. The GN-Xs then slowly lowered and finally landed on their individual places.

After I landed my mobile suit on my hangar, I started to remove my helmet and slowly crawled out of my cockpit. As soon as I got out of my cockpit, I noticed that Ginin was waiting for me, with his arms crossed and tucked in his chest.

"Captain Ginin, what brings you here?" I asked after removing my helmet.

"Well, I was just waiting for you." Ginin answered while holding onto his own helmet. "Now that you're done, follow me."

"Okay sir." I obliged and quickly trailed along my fellow captain.

I looked towards the GN-X that I received, one last time, and then quickly walked away from the hangar. I just hoped that I could get my original mobile suit, the Gread back. Hopefully the engineers were generous enough to give my Gread a nice paintjob.

After a few moments of walking, I soon arrived to a solid metal door that was located at the end of the mobile suit hangar. Before I could step any further, Captain Ginin stopped me. Captain Ginin, while staring at the door, forcefully reached his lengthy arm and pulled out something peculiar. When I looked at what Captain Ginin pulled out, I noticed that it was a card that was similar to the card that I received from Katagiri, except that the color was red instead blue.

"What's that card?" I asked Captain Ginin.

Without a moments waste, Captain Ginin swiped the red card on the card slot that was beside the door that was in front of me. Suddenly, the metal door opened without warning. Captain Ginin then quickly walked through the door. I decided to follow my captain to see where he was going. Maybe he was just going to the commander's office, or another mobile suit hangar; I wasn't really sure yet.

"So, I believe that Commander Katagiri has called us back to his office." Captain Ginin told me as he walked by. "You did a pretty good job on your first mission." Captain Ginin added.

Feeling curious, I continued walking beside Captain Ginin. After a moment of walking along the straight corridor, the captain then turned to the left, and then continued to walk again through the corridor. Soon, the Captain and I arrived to the front of Commander Katagiri's main office. It was then my captain and I encountered another person that was walking perpendicular to us.

"Welcome back, Captain Ginin." The woman greeted.

"Well well, look who it is. I have a new member here with me in my squad." Captain Ginin greeted back, with a smile on his face.

"So, who's the guy with the long hair?" The woman asked curiously.

Looking at the mysterious woman, her body suit was the same color as ours, except that her body suit seemed to match her slender, curvy body. The texture of the woman's hair seemed to flow like the deep ocean; staring at her hair long enough could have made anyone feel like drowning in the sea. Unlike Colonel Kati's hair, this woman did not tie up or shortened her hair; in fact, her hair down all the way to her shoulders. Before I could stare at her any further, the woman interrupted me.

"I imagine that you are Earl Grieves? I heard a few things about you from the commander himself." The blue-haired woman said as she stared deep into my face.

"Well, I guess so." I replied back.

Hearing my reply, the woman then introduced herself. "My name is Captain Nicole Hillings. You might as well call me Captain Hillings, just to make things easier." The blue-haired woman added.

Before I could say another word, Captain Hillings quickly moved in front of me. She then reached into her pocket, and took out the same card that Captain Ginin used to open the door at the end of the hangar. Hillings then swiped the card on the card slot that was in located right below the steel door handle. The card slot immediately recognized the red card that was swiped, and opened the door that was in front of the woman. Captain Hillings then immediately entered the commander's room. I followed the azure-haired woman into the commander's room as well, along with Captain Ginin. Once arriving at the commander's room, I noticed the commander still on his desk, slumping down a bit while placing his hands together while leaning his head on his fists. Commander Katagiri rose up, and looked at the three of us; Captain Ginin, Hilling, and me, Earl Grieves. The commander then stood up and crossed his hands behind his waist.

"So, I assume that you have completed your mission?" Commander Katagiri questioned.

"Yes sir." The three of us answered back in unison.

Commander Katagiri, seemingly satisfied with the answers that we gave us, turned around and grabbed a small rectangular object that was on the right of his desk; a remote. He then pointed the remote on a monitor on the left side of this room, and clicked a button on the remote. Suddenly, the monitor brightened, and there seemed to be another man on the screen. Looking at the man, I immediately noticed that his hair was grey, but he did not seem to be that old at all compared to Commander Katagiri. The man in the screen then started to speak.

"Commander Katagiri. I hear that you have recruited a new member here in A-Laws today?" The man in the screen questioned.

"Yes, I did, now Warrant Officer Grieves, introduce yourself." Commander Katagiri answered back.

"Yes sir. I am Warrant Officer Grieves." I obliged to the commander's orders.

"Well, I have heard……things about you. My name is Major Arab Lindt. I hope that you prove yourself to be good as Commander Katagiri says." The white-haired man introduced himself.

"Well well, Major Arab Lindt, have you finished the mission that I assigned to you yet?" Commander Katagiri questioned the white-haired man through the monitor.

"Well, not yet sir. There are still….how do I say this, "complications" going on. I will be finished shortly however". Major Lindt hesitantly answered back.

Annoyed, Commander Katagiri grunted before slumping himself back down to his chair. "Well, I'm quite disappointed to hear that. Finish your mission as soon as you can." Commander Katagiri ordered again through the monitor. He then pointed his remote to the monitor and turned the monitor off.

"So, now that's over with. I have a few things to discuss with all of you." Commander Katagiri calmly spoke as he leaned over to his desk. Before Katagiri began to start speaking, the monitor flashed again, revealing a soldier with a white cap.

"Sir, we just found out that there the anti-government forces are planning to one of our bases!" The soldier in the monitor applied.

"Really? I'm surprised that those anti-government bastards decided to invade that place anyways. What a bunch of cockroaches." Commander Katagiri grunted.

Commander Katagiri then grabbed his remote again, and pointed it to the monitor. Clicking one of the button that was on the remote, the monitor's screen changed to what it looked like a map of the world. The monitor then started to zoom into the map of the world, and eventually stopped zooming until it reached a certain place. The Commander opened a shelf that was to the left of his desk, and took out a lengthy, metal pointer. He then slowly walked up to the monitor pointed his pointer at a certain place on the map.

"It looks like the anti-government forces are at it again." Commander Katagiri sighed in disdain. "Well, looks like the Earth Sphere Federation forces might need some help."

"I firmly accept the Earth Sphere Federation's request." Captain Ginin affirmed.

"Commander, I request the location of the base that is planning to be invaded." Captain Hillings requested.

Commander Katagiri, seeing that the two captains have accepted the Earth Sphere Federation's plea for help, let out a small grin as he walked back to his personal desk. The commander then turned the monitor off with the remote in hand, and sat back down on his large, black chair. The two captains that were beside me stood completely still, without moving an inch.

"Well then, the Earth Sphere Federation's request seems to be coming from, let's see……well, it seems that the anti-government forces are currently heading towards Dublin." Commander Katagiri recounted.

Hearing Commander Katagiri's comment, I immediately knew that Dublin was in Ireland, where I spent my early childhood life with father, mother, my younger brother, and Amy. Although I have not been to Ireland back in approximately ten years, I still remember the burning flames that took away my family in an instant; that flame has left me a scar in my heart that can never be healed. Surprisingly, I cannot seem to remember my name after I woke up from the coma that I had three years ago. Maybe this might be just a dream, or this might just be my imagination, but no, the situation that I was in was completely real.

Commander Katagiri pointed the remote to the monitor again as he finshed his sentence, and turned the monitor off. He then firmly stood up from the chair that he was sitting on, and walked in front of his desk. The three of us looked at the commander emotionlessly, as we saluted again immediately as the commander stopped moving.

"You two captains may go now. Earl Grieves, you may not partake on this mission." Commander Katagiri ordered.

Normally, the "regular" soldier would have objected to the commander's order if he or she did not know why they were not allowed to go, especially if the mission is going to be in the place that they were born in. However, a voice in my head informed me that I should just have kept my mouth shut. The two captains that were beside me had already left the commander's office.

"So, grab a chair beside you and take a seat." Commander Katagiri calmly stated.

Hearing what the commander said, I quickly grabbed a chair that was beside me and sat down in front of the commander's desk.

"Warrant Officer Earl Grieves, I have some important things to tell you about. Hopefully these will give you a bit more on what is going on as of now." Commander Katagiri stated.

"Well, I've always wondered what happened to me as well sir." I requested back.

"Very Well." Commander Katagiri accepted.

Commander Katagiri then started to explain what happened after hearing my request. Looking forward to what the commander had to say, I calmly stared at the commander, getting ready to accept whatever the commander has to say.

"How should I start this, according to the data from the Earth Sphere General Hospital, it says that you woke up at 06:43 AM yesterday. Speaking of which, you didn't manage to get any sleep at all after seeing what happened now did you?" Commander Katagiri asked.

"Well, at least I know that much sir, except for the Earth Sphere General Hospital" I replied back.

"It was the hospital that was attacked by the anti-government forces just recently. Speaking of which, I believe it was also the place that Dr. Porter worked as well." Commander Katagiri added.

It came as a bit of surprise to me that Commander Katagiri knew Dr. Porter at all. I decided to ask the commander more questions about the things that happened to me; hopefully the commander can answer those as well. Before I can ask another question, the commander interrupted.

"Believe it or not, you ended up in the Earth Sphere Hospital with serious injuries to boot. If the United Nations hadn't retrieved your body, you would have certainly died." Commander Katagiri added further.

"I guess that explains why I was in a coma for the longest time. How long was I in a coma again?" I asked the commander.

"It seems that you were immediately retrieved by one of the United Nations battle cruisers that were on standby. If I remember correctly, I did read about a report that the United Nations encountered body was almost ripped apart inside an asteroid field. Whatever it was that ripped your body to pieces, it must have been a miracle that you survived that ordeal. As for the time, I believe this happened approximately about four years ago." Commander Katagiri let out a satisfied sigh as he leaned back on his chair.

Realizing that I survived an ordeal that would likely have killed me, I let out a small sigh as well. Before I could say another word, the commander interrupted me again. Seeing that the commander might say something important, I decided to listen to what he would say.

"And now for the bad news." Commander Katagiri said.

"So I was supposed to believe that everything I heard before was supposed to be good news? Give me a break!" I thought to myself. Saying this in front of my commander would definitely get my ass kicked, one way or another.

"You will not be getting your Gread back for a long time. It seems that the Gread is not finished, and our engineers have decided that they would use the Gread as a base for planning future mobile suits. Of course, if you prove yourself to be a worthy soldier in my eyes, I'm sure you'll get to pilot the Gread again." The commander assured.

Well that didn't seem all that bad, to be perfectly honest. I was expecting something like how my intestines had to be mended together with the rest of my body due to my entire body being ripped into pieces. At least my injuries didn't seem to be that serious compared to what the commander is saying, or so at least I thought. Before I could say another world, the commander interrupted me for the third time. As a matter of fact, I was starting to get annoyed by the commander's constant habit of interrupting every time before I start to say anything.

"By the way, I'll provide you with a new set of uniforms. It's the least I could do instead of letting you wear that filthy uniform over and over again." Commander Katagiri assured.

Looking at the uniform that I was wearing, I had to admit that my uniform was starting to get dirty. Unlike the uniforms that the other members of A-LAWS were wearing, mine seemed to have stains and tears on some parts, especially on the chest area. Normally I would just wear my uniform, but since I am currently in a military base, hygiene and uniform conduct was an absolute must here. I decided to accept the commander's offer as he took out a completely new pair of the uniform that I was wearing.

"Thank you sir. I appreciate your generosity." I thanked the commander as I received the fresh, green pair of the uniform that was given to me.

"Well, that's all what I have to say. It's already late at night, so how about getting a good night's sleep?" Commander Katagiri said.

"Yes sir." I responded. I then left the commander's office as soon as I answered the commander's question.

I immediately started walking away from the commander's office right after I left the room behind me, still thinking about the times that I might have missed while I was in a coma. Waking up from the hospital, the death of Dr. Porter, the discovery of the Gread, as well as the recruitment to A-LAWS, everything happened just too fast, at least too fast for me to comprehend. Just two days ago, I had just woken up from a coma, and now I was in this military group called A-LAWS, dealing with the anti-government forces that desperately try to rip apart the world that we currently live in. Maybe the questions that are still in my head might be answered someday……

As I continued to walk through the corridor, I noticed that at the end of the corridor, there were two paths, left and right. Reading the sign that was plastered on the end of the corridor, the left path leads to the mobile suit factory, and the right path would lead to the dorm rooms that all the soldiers would live and sleep in; especially my room. While visiting the mobile suit factory would have been interesting, I felt way too tired to even walk to the mobile suit factory; in fact I seem to be having a hard time trying to even walk around the corridors on this base. I turned to the right, and started walking in that direction. I hoped that I could find my dorm room before I end up falling asleep on the floor.

After a few minutes of slowly walking, I came across a room with a metal door, along with an intercom and a set of buttons beside the door. I let out a long, drawn-out yawn as soon as I arrived to my destination; my body felt incredibly tired since I haven't had a good sleep in two whole days. Rubbing my eyes, everything that I could see seemed to be an unreadable blur for a couple of seconds. After the blur in my eyes dissipated, I zoomed in on the sign that was on the door that was in front of me.

"Let's see, this must be…..room C204." I moaned weakly.

Realizing that I found my dorm room, I reached inside my pocket and took the blue card that Commander Katagiri gave me. Swiping the card through the card slot that was beside the door, the solid metal door immediately recognized my card, and quickly opened. Too lazy to notice my surroundings, I slowly walked over to my bed and jumped on the mattress. Ignoring the blankets and a pair of pyjamas that were beside my bed, I drifted myself to sleep.

9 hours later…….

"RRRING!" A deafening sound blurted out.

I slowly opened my eyes, wondering what the hell was going on. Turning my head to the left, I saw an alarm clock that was attached to the wall. Annoyed by the constant ringing that is grazing through my head, I wasted no time reaching my arm over to the alarm clock at the wall beside me. I then pressed one of the buttons that was on the alarm clock, and the ringing finally stopped. I immediately flung out of bed, and slowly walked over to the bathroom. Once arriving at the bathroom door, I slowly grabbed the handle that was in front of me, and pushed it over to the side. Grabbing the new pair of uniform from my desk, I headed inside my bathroom to change; I walked back out as soon as I finished.

After a few minutes of lazing around in my room, I decided to get out of my room and take a stroll around the hallways. I walked over to the entrance of my dorm room, and I pulled out the blue card that was inside my uniform. Swiping the blue card on the card slot that beside the entrance, the grey, metallic door that was in front of me quickly opened. It was just before I was about to walk out of my room until I encountered a rather, familiar person. With her short, blonde hair with those clear aquamarine eyes, I knew that it was no other than Louise Halevy herself.

"Well, look who it is." I greeted.

The blonde girl, who was walking through the hallway, immediately looked at me as I greeted her. She then started to laugh as she pointed her fingers to my face.

"Is there something on my face or something?" I asked.

Louise continued laughing even after I asked my question. Eventually, she steadily calmed down, and instantly pointed her fingers towards my hair.

"Nice hairdo! What in the world did you do to your hair anyways?" Louise asked with a big grin on her face.

Ignoring the blonde-haired girl's ridiculous question, I turned to my left and started walk through the hallway. It would be a good idea for me to check out the mobile suit hangars, since I couldn't manage to check the mobile suit hangar yesterday. I continued to walk through the hallway, looking out at the windows at the right. Looking up, I could see that there were a couple of GN-Xs soaring through the clear, blue sky. It was then Louise decided to start following me. Personally, I didn't mind Louise that much at all, even though she was a bit childish as a soldier.

"So, I assume that you're heading towards the mobile suit hangars?" Louise asked.

"I guess so. I'm curious to see some of the mobile suits that are being built around here." I answered back.

"Well, let's get going then. I hear they're announcing the construction of new mobile suits today. I can't wait!" Louise cheerfully exclaimed as she walked beside me.

After a few minutes of walking through the hallway, I could see another metal door in front of me. Curious to see what the door lead to, I quickened my pace, with Louise quickening her pace to keep up with me as well. Eventually, we arrived to where the metal door was.

"Well, I guess this is the place. Is it the right pla" I said.

Louise took out a blue card from her pocket, and swiped it at the card slot that was located to the right of the door. Immediately, the card slot recognized Louise's blue card. The door in front of us slid open, and with no time to waste, we walked inside. We were immediately greeted by someone as we walked through the metal door that was now behind us. Judging by the tall figure, as well as that short brown ponytail, we immediately recognized who this person was.

"Well you two are just in time. Some of the engineers here are going to introduce the newest machines that are being currently built." Commander Katagiri greeted.

"It is a pleasure to see you sir!" Louise and I saluted in unison.

"I see that you're wearing the uniforms that I handed you last night I see." Commander Katagiri remarked.

"Thank you sir. I appreciate your generosity." I answered back.

"You two better hurry over here. The ceremony is starting right now!" Commander Katagiri ordered.

Without a moment's hesitation, Louise and I quickly followed the commander to see what was going on. As soon as we arrived to where the commander was, I instantly noticed a large crowd gathering in the middle of this particular mobile suit hangar, mostly filled with other soldiers. The higher-ups were easily distinguishable from the common soldiers because they were standing on podiums. I could easily distinguish Commander Katagiri from the crowd since the commander stood at the very middle of the podium; even if he wasn't on the podium, I still would have noticed him due to his immense height compared to the other soldiers. I looked around the mobile suit hangar to observe the surroundings of this place. Unlike the other mobile suit hangar where I docked my GN-X in, this place was completely different. The walls were painted with metallic grey, and it seemed to be more spacious compared to the other hangar; forget that! This hangar completely dwarfed the other one in sheer size alone. Not to mention there were mobile suits that I have never even seen or heard of before. Just before I was about to lose myself in awe, someone grabbed my arm. Looking down to see who did this, I noticed that it was no one other than the blonde-haired, blue eyed girl herself.

"Let's get ourselves over to the front." Louise called as she pulled my sleeves. 'Maybe we'll get a better view of the new models.'

"I don't see why not? Let's get going." I complied, as I followed Louise to where she was going.

Due to the size of the crowd, it took me and Louise a minute or two to squirm through the people that were in front of us. While I was trying to find a way not to disturb anyone while crawling through, Louise was just shoving through the people that were in front of her; sometimes I wondered what the soldiers here think of Louise and her behaviour. Seeing that my way of getting through wasn't working very well, I trailed behind Louise as she pushed and shoved the people that were in her way. Eventually, after a couple minutes of finding our way through, we managed to get to the very front of the crowd. As soon as Louise and I arrived to the front the presentation started immediately. Looking over to the right, I could see a couple of people in bleach-white lab coats coming over to front of the crowd. The people in the white lab coats eventually arrived to the front of the crowd, and then walked up to a large, white podium that was directly in front of us. Looking at the scientists, there was one person that caught my attention. Unlike the ordinary scientists, the man's stature was quite diminutive, but his confident expression as well as his proud stance made his presence larger than the other scientists that were beside him.

"We are here, to announce the latest news in the newest mobile technology that we have uncovered. I hope that our discoveries will benefit a worthy group such amongst you." One of the scientists announced. 'Glemis, open the hatch that is behind us.'

"Yes sir! I will do that that right away!" The other scientist responded. He then reached inside his pants and took out a strange remote and then pressed one of the buttons. All of a sudden, the hatch that was in front of us started to open, revealing a long, blue machine with two pincers at the side. I could also see a long tail stretching at the right end of the machine.

The scientist that ordered Glemis let out a small chuckle, which led me to think that the man must have been proud of what he had invented. The scientist stood firmly, looking down towards the hundreds of soldiers that were currently looking in awe.

"So, my name is Jason Howard. I'm sure most of you people have heard of me by now. If you haven't, you just need to know that I'm a brilliant scientist." The scientist introduced himself to the crowd with a sly expression on his face.

I stared at the scientist, wondering what the sly expression on his face was about. The scientist ignored my glance, and began to introduce the giant, blue machine that was in front of our gaze.

"This is the Trilobite, the very first mobile armor that is used solely for underwater missions." Jason Howard proudly stated. 'Any comments I might add?'

Looking at the Trilobite, this enormous, blue machine with pincers was unlike anything that I have seen before in my life. Judging by the appearance, as well as four large, bladed pincers, most people would think that this machine might probably be a mobile suit pilot's worse nightmare personified. I was soon interrupted when a fellow soldier beside me decided to ask a question.

"When is the Trilobite going to be deployed?" The soldier asked with curiosity.

Howard, catching onto the soldier's question, formed a smirk on his face.

"Since this mobile armor is currently in the development stages, the Trilobite still needs more adjustments in order for it to be mass-produced." Howard answered. 'Now moving on to the next topic,'

After answering the question that the soldier beside me asked, Howard walked down from the podium and continued to move towards the left. The scientists that were beside him followed to where Howard was going. A few seconds later, everyone in the crowd started to move in the direction that Howard was going as well, causing Louise and I to fall behind the crowd. I immediately ran towards the crowd, along with Louise trailing behind me. After a moment of walking, Howard eventually stopped, along with the other scientists that were following him earlier. Eventually, the majority of the crowd slowed down and halted as well after Howard had stopped walking. Luckily for me and Louise, we managed to get ourselves to the front of the crowd again, even after we got ourselves fallen behind once. Looking up, I could see a wide, red mobile suit that was in front of me; it struck me that this mobile suit looked exactly like the mobile suit that Captain Ginin was piloting during my first mission.

"So, we have arrived to the second part our announcement. As you can see, the mobile suit behind me is something that most of you have not seen before. I'll introduce this mobile suit right now." Howard added as he pointed his fingers to the mobile suit behind his diminutive stature.

Sometimes, I wondered if I was ever going to pilot the suit that was in front of me. Compared to the GN-X III that I was piloting, the suit in front of me looked like it had a complete overhaul. Howard immediately continued his announcement from earlier, with everyone in the crowd focusing themselves on Howard to hear what the short man has to say. Louise and I looked towards Howard as well, just like the other people in the crowd.

"This, is the GN-X 704T Ahead. We scientists and engineers first started developing this suit a couple months ago, and we just finished the construction of this mobile suit a couple days prior as of now. As you can see, compared to the standard GN-X IIIs that most of you soldiers are using, this mobile suit boasts superior manoeuvrability, strength as well as a longer operational time." Howard explained in front of the crowd below.

"Mr. Howard, is there any chance that this mobile suit is going to be deployed for our personal use?" Louise asked as I continued to look towards Howard.

"Well, unfortunately this mobile suit is not ready to be deployed yet as of now." Howard answered.

"Thank you." Louise replied back with a slightly dejected look on her face; I guessed she must have wanted to pilot the Ahead for quite some time.

The presentation eventually dragged on for a couple more minutes, mainly comprised of other soldiers asking and the scientists trying their best to answering other people's questions. Eventually, Howard decided that it was better to continue the presentation rather than just answering questions that were being asked.

"Everyone follow me over to where the Trilobite was. I have something…..special in mind to present." Howard announced as he started walking back in the other direction.

Without a moment's hesitation, the crowd quickly followed Howard to where the Trilobite was. After a few moments of walking, Howard suddenly stopped. The undersized man with a white lab coat then grabbed a remote from his lab coat, and pressed one of the buttons on it. Without warning, the solid, grey steel floor below the Trilobite slowly started to creak open. A powerful wave of sound came across the crowd immediately when the floor began to split, causing the crowd to cover their ears as they exclaimed in pain. Howard however didn't seem to mind the boisterous noise at all, as he just stood still without a single change to his expression.

"KYAAAHHH!" Louise screamed in agony as the floor beneath the Trilobite continued to open.

Eventually, the enormously powerful wave of sound stopped as the floor beneath the Trilobite steadily slowed down, finally stopping after a few more seconds. I managed to survive through the noise, although looking back; I noticed that some people were knocked out of their minds due to the sheer loudness that happened a couple minutes ago. Surprisingly, all of the scientists that were beside Howard was hardly fazed by the tremendous noise that occurred. I then looked over to Louise, who was still covering her ears at the moment.

"Hey Louise, the noise is gone now. You can uncover your ears." I reminded the blond-haired girl as I gently shook her.

Louise, responding to my shaking, finally uncovered her ears. She then slowly stood up from where she was and faced me.

"Finally! I thought that my ears were going to burn out!" Louise complained, looking frustrated.

"Well, you're lucky that you're still awake. Some of the people in the crowd have already been knocked out." I responded to Louise with a quirky smile on my face.

"Well well, what do we have here? Oh my…" Howard wondered as he scratched his short, black hair. 'Anyways, let's get to the next topic shall we?"

"Hey you, what in god's name was that earbreaking noise?" I yelled out.

"Sorry, the floor here requires a lot of energy for it to start open. It's bound to make noises like this every time it opens." Howard apologetically replied back.

"Geez…" I grumbled. "Look how many people you knocked out!"

"Let's continue the presentation!" Howard announced while ignoring my comment.

Wondering what was below the metal floor, I glimpsed over to where the floor was a couple minutes ago. What was once a giant metallic floor, it was now revealed to be an enormous, rectangular shaped water container that looked more of less like a swimming pool, except that it was too large for people to swim in. I was completely baffled to see a facility like this in a base like this.

"Just to let people know, we need a few volunteers here. I am going to let a few people from the crowd there to test out the Trilobite!" Howard called out.

Just as I was about to see what Louise was doing, Howard pointed his finger at me and Louise.

"Hey you two! I'm giving you special permission to come and test the Trilobite!" Howard called out. 'Now I just need a third person.'

"Wow! I can't believe a girl like me got selected for testing a mobile armor like that!" Louise cheerfully said.

"Huh????" I uttered in pure surprise. For a few seconds, I really thought that Howard was just joking around. Unfortunately this wasn't the case.

"Hey you! At the back of the crowd over there! I'm picking you to test out the Trilobite!" Howard called a soldier that was all the way at the end of the crowd.

"Awesome! Just as I was starting to get sick of piloting the GN-Xs," The soldier at very end cheered out. He then ran over to where Louise and I were standing.

I'm not sure what my expression should be at this moment, I knew that something was going to be very, very wrong. Louise's cheerful expression contrasted my shocked-looking face; in fact, it only made my situation worse than it was before.


End file.
